OverviewRover Scouts were the most senior of all the
Senior
Scout programs. Boys could become apprentice Rover Scouts at 17,
becoming
full members at 18. Adult leaders had to be 25. The program
was
intended as a service and leadership program for the oldest boys, in
some
ways similar to a college fraternity or service club. The program
was
based on the ideas of B-P himself, who developed the program in England
for
older boys in 1918 and wrote a book for it called Rovering to
Success
in 1922. The program had started in New England in 1929, through
the
efforts of Robert Hale, who produced an early Rover Scout
booklet.
But in 1928 there were crews in Seattle, Detroit, Toledo, and
elsewhere.
By 1932, there were 36 official experimental crews, with 27 of them in
15
New England councils. Finally, in May of 1933 the National
Council
approved the program, and starting plans for development of literature
and
helps to leaders. Apparently in 1935, a Rover Wood Badge course
was
run, probably following the British syllabus. Am unaware of any
other
RWB course being run.

The 'demise' of Rover Scouts is unclear, but
not unexpected. The program was never very big, not helped by the
fact that
National didn't really 'sell' the program, preferring to push other
Senior
programs like Sea Scouts and Explorer Scouts. When much of the
literature of the time mentioned Rovers, if at all, with a few
paragraphs or a page or
two that doesn't do much in explaining the program and getting people
to
want to join. In 1952, National decided to stop chartering new
Crews,
and no longer recorded Rover membership after 1953. National also
wanted
to concentrate its efforts on the Explorer programs, rather then
Rovers,
thus its demise. In 1965, when several other changes occurred in
the
Senior programs, that National stopped re-registering Rover Crews as
Rover
Crews. Those that continued to exist where apparently
re-registered as Exploring Posts (later Venturing Crews) instead, but
continued to use the
Rover program.

Up until very recently, there were a few Rover
Crews
still in existence in the BSA. The B-P Rover Crew of Glasgow, KY,
was
considered the 'high church' of American Rovering. Their leader,
Jim
Simmons, was involved with Rovers when it was an official part of the
BSA.
Before it ended, they were registered as an Exploring Post.
However,
Jim passed away about three years ago, and the group has ceased to
exist.
There was also the Diamond Willow Crew in Chicago and the Kudu Rover
Crew
in Bardstown, Ky, both started by Jim and his nephew Ted. Both
have
also ceased to exist. The Queen City Rovers still exists as
Venturing
Crew #95, and has been in existence for over 30 years.
There
is a recent Venturing Crew being organized as a Rover Crew, which are
calling themselves the Dan Beard Crew. A site with info
on them is HERE.

I have also learned about a group called the "B-P Rovers of
Arizona", which
is apparently associated with the various "B-P Scout Associations" that
exist
in other countries independently of the WOSM associations. They
are
associated with BSA Troop 30 and comprise the leadership of this
troop.
Here is their web
site. More recently I found another group associated with
them called
the "1st Colonial Rovers of Florida". No other data on them as
they
don't appear to have a website.

In other Scouting Associations, Rovers still
exist as their most senior section, usually for the ages of 17-25 or
so. It's
too bad that the BSA doesn't see the value in bring back this
program. This would be a perfect program for college age youth
(Rovers are usually co-ed in other countries, as is the BSA's older
youth programs) to establish Rover Crews for service clubs and high
adventure groups, as the present Venturing
program ends their youth age at 21. This can be problematic for a
college
based unit, as we see more and more college students who are older then
21.

A website with some good info on the early history and development
of Rover
Scouting in the UK can be found HERE.

The Rover Program
The program of Rover Scouts was one of leadership and service among
older
youth/young adults. It was 'grownup scouting'. Crews were
expected
to do service and leadership work as part of their program. The
highlight
of their program was a "quest", which was intended as a large outdoor
service
work or project. This might include serving as adult Cub leaders for
the
Cub Pack associated with their Scouting Group and the like. In
many
ways it corresponds to the work done by various service groups and
clubs,
as well as Alpha Phi Omega, a college service fraternity based on
scouting
principles.

Rover Scout UniformsRover Scouts wore regular scout uniforms, but
with
a shirt strip that read "Rover Scouts BSA". When they wore
shorts, they
were to wear red garter tabs. From 1935-46, only Rovers wore the
red
tabs. After 1946, Explorers would wear the red tabs. Rover
Scout
insignia existed, which would be worn on the right sleeve about 2 in
below
the seam. There were several versions over the years. Also
lapel
pins existed as well.

Rover Scout Insignia

Rover Scout Emblem

Rover Scout Emblem

Rover Scouts Emblem

Rover
Scout Pins

Rover Scout AdvancementThere apparently was no distinctive Rover Scout
advancement
program. In some countries, Rovers worked on the Rambler award, and
this
award was offered in the Rover program here. A Rambler
award
pin with the BSA logo exists, but was not official produced. Rovers
could
earn any of the Senior Scout/Explorer advancements, as there was no
upper
age limits for BSA programs at the time. They could also earn Senior Scout Titles, as well as progress
to
Eagle Scout if they had earned First Class as a Boy Scout.

Rover Scout UnitsRover Scout units were called Crews. If
they
were large enough, which was probably rare, they could be subdivided
into
Teams (some say these were called Sections) around like
interests. Rover
Crews were under the leadership of a Rover Scout Mate, who would have
been
the equivalent to a Boy Scout Senior Patrol Leader or Explorer Scout
Post
Guide. There was an assistant Mate, or Rover Second as the position was
also
called. Teams were under the leadership of Team Leaders. Another
leadership
position was Yeoman, which was equivalent to secretary. The adult
leaders
were simply called Rover Scout Leaders. There existed a pin for
the
Rover Scout Mate, which consisted of the Rover Scout emblem
superimposed
over 2 bars. No other office insignia is known. However,
the
B-P Rover Crew did create their own Rover Mate patch.

Rover Scout Office
Insignia

Rover Scout Leader EXISTS??

Rover Scout Mate NO
PICTURE

Rover Scout Mate patch UNOFFICIAL

LiteratureUntil recently, the only literature on the Rover
Scouts
I was aware of was the very brief mention of the program in manuals
like
the Adventures for Senior Scouts and the Senior Scout
Guidebooks, and even briefer mention in books like the Scoutmaster
Handbook or
the How Book of Scouting of the time.

Most recently I learned that there was both a Rover
Scout Handbook and a Rover Scout Leader Handbook. No
scouting literature reference had ever made mention of the existence of
these works. I have been supplied with a photocopy of an early
(prehaps first) US Rover Scout book. Title is Once a Scout,
Always a Scout, it was written
by Robert S. Hale as a Rover Leader Provisional Program guidebook, and
approved
by the BSA. It is heavily based on the Rover Scout program as put
forth
by B-P. I have yet to see other works, so don't know how much it
will
expand the knowledge of this early program. If this locally
produced
work was approved by the BSA, prehaps others were the same. What DID
they
produce? I do know that National Supply made available Rover
materials
from Britian, including Rovering to Success, the Gilcraft
volume on
Rovers and more.

There is, of course, B-P's work on the
program: Rovering
to Success. This work is more of an inspirational volume on
Rovering,
then a program-focused work.

Starting in 1935, there was a Nationally
published Rover newsletter called the Rover Record. It
produced regularly from Feb of 1935 to 1937, then intermittently from
1938 until the last issue
on April 1941.

Rover Scout
Literature

Rovering to Success
1922
a 26th edition (printing) appeared in 1964

written by Robert Stevenson Smith Baden-Powell
unaware of any American edition of this work, apart from recent
reprints.

Rover Scout Handbook

NO PICTURE

Rover Scout Leader Handbook

NO PICTURE

Once a Scout, Always a Scout
1930, March First Edition
1930, December Second edition
others?

written by Robert S. Hale, New England Commissioner for
Rovering
approved by the BSA? but privetely published
Rover Leader Provisional Program Guidebook
paperback, 24pg

Rover Record
quarterly newsletter, 1935 to 1941

Statistics

year

membership

1935

---

1936

---

1937

1337

1938

1832

1939

2247

1940

2153

1941

2060

1942

2047

1943

1410

1944

3099*

1945

3140*

1946

1338

1947

1635

1948

1615

1949

1329

1950

1113

1951

872

1952

909

1953

691

*- these numbers are wrong as they
include
Senior Scouts in troops that National's statistics did not break out.
Rover numbers combined with Explorers after 1953

Source: 1964 Annual Report of the BSA , as shown in Art Hyman's The
Scout
in Aviation.